"Wonderful Tonight" is a song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 written by Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

. It was included on Clapton's 1977 album Slowhand

Slowhand

Slowhand is an album by Eric Clapton, released in 1977. It contained three of his most popular singles, the bluesy "Cocaine", the ballad "Wonderful Tonight" and the country-flavoured #3 U.S. hit "Lay Down Sally", as well as other songs that became Clapton classics on their own like "The Core" and...

and released as a single the following year. Clapton wrote the song about Pattie Boyd

Pattie Boyd

Patricia Anne "Pattie" Boyd is an English model and photographer, and the former wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton...

, and it is mentioned in her autobiographical book Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me

Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me

Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me is the 2007 autobiography of Pattie Boyd written with Penny Junor. Beginning with her childhood in Kenya, Wonderful Tonight covers Boyd's marriage and divorce to Beatle George Harrison and later marriage and divorce of Harrison's best...

. The song was a modest hit upon its release, charting at #16 in the US and #30 in the UK.

On September 7th, 1976, Clapton wrote "Wonderful Tonight" for Boyd while waiting for her to get ready to attend Paul

Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

 and Linda McCartney

Linda McCartney

Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney was an American photographer, musician and animal rights activist. Her father and mother were Lee Eastman and Louise Sara Lindner Eastman....

's annual Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly

Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...

 party. Of "Wonderful Tonight," Boyd would say: "For years it tore at me. To have inspired Eric, and George before him, to write such music was so flattering. 'Wonderful Tonight' was the most poignant reminder of all that was good in our relationship, and when things went wrong it was torture to hear it."

In 1988, Clapton appeared in the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute

Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute

The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute was a popular-music concert staged on June 11, 1988 at Wembley Stadium, London and broadcast to 67 countries and an audience of 600 million. It was also referred to as Freedomfest, Free Nelson Mandela Concert and Mandela Day...

 concert as a guest guitarist for Dire Straits

Dire Straits

Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...

. The group became his backing musicians for a surprise performance of "Wonderful Tonight" during their set.

The song appeared in a 2005 SBC

SBC

-Colleges and institutes:*Sanford-Brown College, system of for-profit schools in the United States*San Beda College, of Manila, Philippines*Sarawak Biodiversity Centre, Sarawak state biology research institute in Malaysia...

 commercial.

In one episode of American drama Friends

Friends

Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

, when Chandler

Chandler Bing

Chandler Muriel Bing is a fictional character on the popular U.S. television sitcom Friends, portrayed by Matthew Perry.-Background:Chandler Muriel Bing was born on April 8, 1968, the son of an erotic novelist mother and a cross-dressing Las Vegas star and is of Scottish ancestry. Chandler was Ross...

 proposes to Monica

Monica Geller

Monica E. Geller Bing is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends, portrayed by Courteney Cox. Monica is known as the "Mother Hen" of the group and her Greenwich Village apartment was one of the group's main gathering places. She was also known for her obsessive personality...

, this song is used as the background music.

Cover versions

The song has had two cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

s released by country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singers: Butch Baker

Butch Baker

Butch Baker is an American country music artist. He recorded for Mercury Records in the late 1980s, releasing multiple singles between 1984 and 1990, as well as the album We Will. His highest-peaking single, "That's What Her Memory Is For", peaked at #41 on the U.S. country charts in...

 took a rendition to #66 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 charts in 1989, David Kersh

David Kersh

David Kersh is an American country music singer who made his debut in 1996. His first album, Goodnight Sweetheart, was released that year, producing four singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. A second album, titled If I Never Stop Loving You, was released a year later,...

's version went to #29 on the same chart in 1998. "Wonderful Tonight" was also covered by British pop group Damage

Damage (British band)

Damage were a British R&B boy band who achieved success in the 1990s with eleven hit singles, including four Top 10 successes in the UK Singles Chart.-Biography:...

. It was released as a single in 1997 and reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart. Michael Bublé

Michael Bublé

Michael Steven Bublé is a Canadian singer. He has won several awards, including three Grammy Awards and multiple Juno Awards. His first album reached the top ten in Canada and the UK. He found worldwide commercial success with his 2005 album It's Time, and his 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible was...

 covered the song on his album, Call Me Irresponsible (album)

Call Me Irresponsible (album)

Call Me Irresponsible is the third studio album released by Grammy Award-winning Canadian jazz singer Michael Bublé. The album was released on May 1, 2007.-Release:...

 in 2007. R&B singer Babyface covered the song on his album Playlist

Playlist (Babyface album)

Playlist is the eleventh album by Babyface. It was the first longplay release on the newly re-launched Mercury Records label. The work consists of eight covers and two original compositions...

also in 2007.

External links

• Lyrics